Sleeping-car



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. B. OOFPIN.

SLEEPING CAR.

No. 246,082. Patented Aug. 23,1881.

-| HIM Hill! (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

P. B. GOFFIN.

- SLEEPING OAR. No. 246,082.- Patented Aug. 23,1881.

(No Model.) 4 3 Sheets- -She'et 3.

P. B. GOFPIN.

- SLEEPING GAR.

No. 246,082. I I I v Patented Aug. 23,1881.

N. PETERS. mmLilhu m mr. wuhingrm. \IC.

' timbers,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PEROIVAL B. QOFFIN, ()F RICHMOND, INDIANA.

SLEEPING-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 246,082, dated August23, 1881. Application filod March 1,1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PERGIVAL B. COFFIN, of Richmond, Wayne county,Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RailwaySleeping-(Jars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is directed to an arrangement and construction of asleeping-car and its furniture which secures better ventilation both byday and night, ability to face all of the seats for day use, eitherfacing the front or each other at will.

My improvements comprise a construction of car-seats adapted to berolled upon a track longitudinal of the car and secured to any desiredposition, so as to be capable of being located equidistant for daytravel or of being arranged in couples farther asunder for conversioninto couches; aeonstruction of the seat-back which makes it availablepartly for the lower and partly for the upper berth; ahorizontallyslotted seat-arm which, in conjunction with hinged andfolding back-brace, and with separable props, and with abracket-projection from the body wall, constitutes an efi'ectivesubstructure for the upper berth; a sectionpartition composed of anet-work of woven wire suitably clothed or covered and provided withcertain devices for suspending the same, as hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section of aportion of a car-body, including two consecutive seats in condition forday use. Fig. 2 represents the same in condition for night use. Fig. 3is a transverse section of the same.

A may represent the floor; B, the sheathing, and O the wainscoting,which constitute the walls of a sleeping-car. A portion, D, of theinterstice, shell, or jacket between the parts B and O, Iutilize as areceptacle or closet for bedding. With this object in view I so locatethe wainscoting of that portion as to afford an available space betweenit and the sheathing of not less than six inches, and instead of theusual post at that part I secure the necessary strength of body by theinsertion of an iron plate, E, which, being firmly bolted to the carismore than the equivalent of such omitted portion of the post. Inpractice only the alternate posts are required to be thus shortened, theother posts, including those at the end of the car-body, remaining fulllength. Each closet thus formed has a door, D.

Each seatF is shiftable longitudinally of the car, andisfor this purposeprovided with wheels G, that occupy tracks or trams H in or on thecar-floor: Lugs I, that project from the seat-.

frames, receive screws J, which, being driven into sockets K, serve toretain the seats either to their day position, as represented in Fig. 1,or to their night position, as represented in Fig. 2.

Each seat-arm L has a horizontal slot, l, for

the pin M, at the lower extremity of a brace consisting of two members,N N, united to one another by a butt-hinge, a, whose center isconsiderably out of alignment with said members in their extendedcondition, in order to avoid any tendency for the brace to accidentallyfold by the agitation of the. car in traveling. For the purpose ofsecuring still further stability, lips n are formed on the remote sidefrom the hinge-pintle. The upper end of member N is pivoted at n to theback 0.

Hinged to back 0, and about two-fifths of its width, is a cushion, P,which is capable of being folded and held by catch 19 against the rearside of the back, as in Fig. 1, or of being opened out flush with theback, as in Fig. 2. The remaining three-fifths of said rear surface is,in day use, occupied by cushion Q, which has for that purpose anyconvenient means of ready attachment to the back. For night use thecushion Q is separated from the back and placed upon the seat-bottom,the cushion R, which constitutes the seat proper, being slid forward tojoin the like cushion on the other seat bottom, each of said cushionsR'having their outer edges supported by legs 5.

When the brace N N is required to operate as a support for the upperberth its lower extremity is shifted along the slot 1 until it reachesthe mid-length of the same, and the unfolded cushion P is at the sametime upheld partly by oblique prop '1, whose lower extremity is fastenedto the seat-arm, and partly by a bracket, U, which occupies a socket, V,attached to the Wainscot. A similar bracket, U, assists in supportingfor night use the outslid cushion R.

For separation of the consecutive sectionsI or cover with serge or othersuitable fabric. Metallic loops X at the upper and rear margins of thepartition enable its suspension upon hooks Y, affixed in the ceiling andWainscot of the car. The front upper corner of said netting has a hookor eye, Z, by means of which it is suspended from cross-rod z.

I claim as new and of my invention- 1. In asleeping-car, the seats F,having wheels or rollers G, that occupy a longitudinal track in thecar-floor, and are secured to any required position for either day ornight use by means of lugs 1, screws J, and sockets K, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination of horizontally-slotted seat-arm L l, hinged foldingand extensible back-brace M N N n n 12', back 0, hinged cushion P, andthe oblique prop T, constituting the upper berth, substantially as setforth.

ed to engage with the cross-rod z, substantially as set forth.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto Set my hand.

PEROIVAL B. OOFFIN.

AtteSt:

O. F. GoFFIN, JOHN L. REEFE.

